In force Last amended 26/1/1447 AH
Saudi Arbitration Law
نظام التحكيم
The Arbitration Law defines its terms and covers general provisions, the arbitration agreement, the arbitral tribunal, arbitration procedures, deciding the case, setting aside an award, the binding force and enforcement of awards, and final provisions.
- Articles
- 58
- In force
- 58
- Amended
- 3
- Issued
- 24/5/1433 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م / 34 بتاريخ 24 / 5 / 1433 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 156 بتاريخ 17 / 5 / 1433
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Arbitration Law by topic
Articles of the Saudi Arbitration Law
الباب الأول: أحكام عامةArticles 1–8
- Article 1The article defines three key terms in the Arbitration Law: the arbitration agreement, the arbitral tribunal and the competent court.
- Article 2The article sets the scope of the Arbitration Law and excludes personal status disputes and matters in which conciliation is not permitted.
- Article 3The article sets out when arbitration is international under the Law, provided its subject is a dispute relating to international trade.
- Article 4The article allows the parties, where they may choose a procedure, to authorize others, such as an individual or an arbitration center, to choose it.
- Article 5The article requires applying the provisions of any document, such as a model contract or international agreement, to which the parties agree to subject their relationship, so long as it does not contravene Islamic Sharia.
- Article 6The article regulates how notices between the parties to arbitration are delivered when they have no special agreement, and excludes judicial notices concerning annulment of an arbitral award.
- Article 7The article treats a party's continuing with arbitration while aware of a violation, without objecting within the agreed time or within 30 days, as a waiver of his right to object.
- Article 8The article gives jurisdiction over an action to annul an arbitral award, and other matters the Law refers to the competent court, to the court of appeal that would originally hear the dispute, and in Riyadh for international commercial arbitration.
الباب الثاني: اتفاق التحكيمArticles 9–12
- Article 9The article allows an arbitration agreement to precede or follow a dispute, requires it to be in writing or it is void, and sets out the accepted forms of writing.
- Article 10The article requires capacity to dispose for a valid arbitration agreement, and allows government bodies to agree to arbitration only with the Prime Minister's approval unless a special statutory provision permits it.Amended M/21
- Article 11The article requires a court seized of a dispute covered by an arbitration agreement to rule the action inadmissible if the defendant raises this before any request or defense, and provides that the action does not stop the arbitration.
- Article 12The article requires the competent court to refer the dispute to arbitration if the parties agree to arbitrate while it is being heard, subject to paragraph (1) of Article 9.
الباب الثالث: هيئة التحكيمArticles 13–24
- Article 13The article requires the arbitral tribunal to consist of one or more arbitrators in an odd number, or the arbitration is void.
- Article 14The article requires an arbitrator to have full capacity, good conduct and reputation, and at least a university degree in Sharia or legal sciences, the latter sufficing in the chairman where there are several arbitrators.
- Article 15The article regulates choosing arbitrators by the parties' agreement, and when and how the competent court steps in, the periods to be observed, and that its decision is not separately appealable.
- Article 16The article bars an arbitrator from having an interest in the dispute, requires written disclosure of anything that raises doubts about his impartiality, and sets the cases of his disqualification and the grounds for challenging him.
- Article 17The article regulates the procedure and time limits for challenging an arbitrator absent agreement, appeal of a refusal to the competent court, and the effect of a challenge ruling on the arbitration proceedings.
- Article 18The article allows the competent court to remove an arbitrator who cannot perform or has stopped performing his task at either party's request, and makes removal of any other arbitrator by the parties' agreement, with the removed arbitrator entitled to compensation in some cases.
- Article 19The article requires a replacement arbitrator to be appointed when an arbitrator's task ends for any reason, by the same procedures followed in choosing the original arbitrator.
- Article 20The article makes the arbitral tribunal decide pleas of its own lack of jurisdiction, sets the time for raising them, and limits appeal of a refusal to an action to annul the award that ends the whole dispute.
- Article 21The article provides that an arbitration clause in a contract is an agreement independent of the contract's other terms, so it is not void because the contract is void, rescinded or terminated if the clause is valid in itself.
- Article 22The article allows the competent court to order interim or precautionary measures and judicial delegation, and lets the arbitral tribunal ask the relevant body to help with the arbitration proceedings.
- Article 23The article allows the parties to agree to let the arbitral tribunal order interim or precautionary measures, with a possible financial guarantee, and regulates what happens if an order is not complied with.
- Article 24The article makes the competent court fix the arbitrators' fees where the parties and arbitrators have not agreed on them, by a decision that is not appealable, and requires it to do so where the court itself appointed the arbitrators.Amended
الباب الرابع: إجراءات التحكيمArticles 25–37
- Article 25The article gives the parties to arbitration the right to agree on its procedures, including the rules of any arbitration center, failing which the arbitral tribunal chooses suitable procedures.
- Article 26The article sets the start of arbitration proceedings as the day one party receives the arbitration request from the other, unless the parties agree otherwise.
- Article 27The article requires the parties to arbitration to be treated equally and each to be given a full and equal opportunity to present his case or defense.
- Article 28The article leaves the place of arbitration to the parties' agreement, in the Kingdom or abroad; failing that, the tribunal sets it, and it may meet anywhere suitable for certain tasks.
- Article 29The article makes Arabic the language of arbitration unless the tribunal decides or the parties agree on another, and lets the tribunal require translations of submitted documents.
- Article 30The article regulates the written statement of claim sent by the claimant and the statement of defense sent by the respondent, their content, attached documents, and the tribunal's right to request originals.
- Article 31The article requires a copy of what one party submits to be sent to the other, and expert reports and evidence the tribunal may rely on to be sent to both parties.
- Article 32The article allows each party to amend or supplement its requests or defenses during the proceedings, unless the tribunal decides not to accept this to avoid delaying the resolution of the dispute.
- Article 33The article regulates hearings in arbitration, the option of relying on written memoranda alone, the duty to notify the parties of hearing dates, and the recording of minutes of each session.
- Article 34The article sets the effect of the claimant failing to submit its statement of claim without an acceptable excuse (the proceedings end) and of the respondent not replying (they continue), unless the parties agree otherwise.
- Article 35The article allows the tribunal to continue the proceedings and issue an award based on the evidence before it if a party, after being notified, fails to attend or to submit requested documents.
- Article 36The article regulates the tribunal's appointment of one or more experts, the parties' duty to cooperate with them, and their right to see the expert's report, comment on it and examine the expert.
- Article 37The article sets out when the tribunal continues or suspends the proceedings if a matter outside its jurisdiction arises, a document is challenged as forged, or criminal proceedings are taken.
الباب الخامس: إجراءاتArticles 38–48
- Article 38The article sets the rules the tribunal applies to the subject of the dispute, without contravening Islamic Sharia or public order, and allows an award by conciliation if it is expressly authorized.
- Article 39The article regulates how the tribunal issues its award by majority after secret deliberation, the choice of a casting arbitrator when no majority is possible, and procedural decisions and interim and partial awards.
- Article 40The article sets the period for issuing the award ending the dispute (as agreed by the parties, or twelve months), the possibility of extending it, and what the parties may do when it passes.
- Article 41The article sets when arbitration proceedings end, provides that they do not end on the death or loss of capacity of a party, and that the tribunal's mission ends when the proceedings end.
- Article 42The article requires the arbitral award to be written, reasoned and signed by the arbitrators or a majority of them, and lists the details it must contain.
- Article 43The article requires each party to be given a true copy of the award within 15 days of its issuance, and prohibits publishing the award or any part of it without the written consent of both parties.
- Article 44The article requires the tribunal to deposit the original award or a signed copy with the competent court within 15 days of its issuance, with a certified Arabic translation if it was issued in a foreign language.
- Article 45The article allows parties who agree on a settlement to ask for its terms to be recorded; the tribunal issues an award containing them and ending the proceedings, with the force of arbitrators' awards on enforcement.
- Article 46The article allows either party, within 30 days of receiving the award, to ask the tribunal to interpret any ambiguity in its operative part; the interpretation is issued in writing within 30 days and forms part of the award.
- Article 47The article gives the tribunal power to correct purely clerical or arithmetical errors in its award within 15 days, and allows the correction decision to be challenged as void if it exceeds that power.
- Article 48The article allows either party, within 30 days of receiving the award, to ask for an additional award on requests submitted but omitted by the award; the tribunal issues it within 60 days, extendable by 30 days.
الباب السادس: بطلان حكم التحكيمArticles 49–51
- Article 49The article bars challenging arbitral awards issued under the Law by any means of challenge, except by bringing an action to annul the award in accordance with the Law.
- Article 50The article exhaustively lists the grounds on which an action to annul an arbitral award is accepted, what the competent court rules of its own motion, and the limits of its review.Amended M/21
- Article 51The article sets the period for an action to annul an arbitral award at 60 days from notification of the award, and the effect and challengeability of the court's judgment, whether upholding or annulling the award.
الباب السابع: حجية أحكام المحكمين وتنفيذهاArticles 52–55
- Article 52The article provides that an arbitral award issued under the Law has the force of res judicata and is enforceable, subject to the provisions of the Law.
- Article 53The article gives the competent court or its delegate the power to issue an order enforcing the arbitrators' award, and lists the four documents that must be attached to the enforcement request.
- Article 54The article provides that bringing an action for nullity does not suspend enforcement of the arbitral award, lets the competent court suspend it under conditions, and sets periods for deciding the request and the action.
- Article 55The article sets when a request to enforce an arbitral award is accepted, what the competent body verifies before ordering enforcement, and the rules on objecting to the enforcement order or its refusal.
الباب الثامن: أحكام ختاميةArticles 56–58
- Article 56The article assigns to the Council of Ministers the issuance of the Implementing Regulations of the Arbitration Law.
- Article 57The article provides that the current Arbitration Law replaces the previous Arbitration Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/46 dated 12/7/1403 AH.
- Article 58The article provides that the Arbitration Law takes effect 30 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
A question about the Saudi Arbitration Law?
Describe what happened and specialist lawyers answer. You can write in English.
- Completely free
- Lawyers from the directory answer
- Your name stays hidden
Need a lawyer who knows the Saudi Arbitration Law?
Describe your situation briefly and we'll suggest a lawyer who specialises in this law, free and with no commitment.